Quantum Computing Ready for Application

At CES earlier this month, Intel announced it had a system with 49 qubits—or bits that have existed in a quantum state—in a partnership with Netherlands-based Qutech. This new system, called Tangle Lake, is a big step up from just two months ago, when the company announced a 17-qubit system……

….At the show, Jeff Welser, Vice President and Lab Director of the IBM Research Lab at Almaden (near San Jose), presented the quantum computer, and described the basic system. The computer itself is relatively small, but the cooling systems required to make it work are enormous; it actually needs a room full of cooling units, with vacuum pumps and refrigerators with liquid helium to get the temperature down to 10 to 15 millikelvins, which is colder than even outer space (which averages about 3 kelvins).

What’s actually available to developers and researchers right now is a 16-qubit version of the machine that is accessible through a website, as well as a 20-qubit version that specific customers can use, including partners such as JSR and Hitachi Metals. These systems are actually housed at IBM’s research facility in Yorktown Heights, NY. The 50-qubit version is expected to be available to partners later this year.

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